MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 415 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,786,000 after buying an additional 35,277 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,971,000 after buying an additional 12,495 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 143,742 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $81,308,000 after buying an additional 11,704 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $581.57.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $513.28 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $451.55 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $556.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $539.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.64 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.